Daniel Stelter: Beim Gutverdiener-Kündigungsschutz zu kurz gesprungen
Die Lockerung des Kündigungsschutzes trifft die Falschen, wenn die Regierung Innovationen fördern will. Wirkungsvoll wären ganz andere Maßnahmen. Ein Gastbeitrag.
Daniel Stelter's article highlights the recent decision by the German coalition to relax the general redundancy protection for employees earning above 177,450 euros per year. This change, effective from January 1, 2027, introduces severance protection for these high-earning workers. The primary goal of this reform is to encourage innovation in Germany.
French innovation researcher Olivier Coste's analysis suggests that Europe's innovation gap with the US is not due to cultural differences or lack of capital, but rather the high costs associated with failure. The article points out that restructuring takes significantly longer and is more expensive in Europe compared to the US, as evidenced by the fact that countries with highly flexible labor markets like Denmark and Switzerland have higher R&D intensity in disruptive sectors than the US.
Denmark's Flexicurity reform of 1994 led to a 125% increase in private research expenditures over eight years, far surpassing the 40% increase in Germany and 60% in the US during the same period. There is a strong correlation between restructuring costs and technology and biotechnology R&D intensity.
Written by urgent.news from Handelsblatt's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
